National Charter School Authorizer Group Says Study Confirms Need for Smarter Replication and Faster Action on Failing Schools

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Greg Richmond, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, issued the following statement regarding the Charter School Growth and Replication study released today by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO):

“The CREDO study confirms what many educators already know about school quality: past performance is indeed a strong indicator of future performance. That's true for all schools, not just charters. For charter schools, we now have data to support quicker action. We need to act more quickly to close failing charter schools and we need to act more decisively to replicate those that are successful.

“If we get data that shows that a charter school is failing, we shouldn't give that school ten or fifteen more years to fail. We should close it. And if an existing, successful charter school would like to open another school, we need to make sure they have that opportunity by removing the financial and legal barriers that get in their way.

“This study reinforces the essence of our One Million Lives campaign. There are still far too many children in America that are not getting a good education. We need to have the courage to act quickly and decisively to give more children the chance to attend a good school and we now have better data to support those actions. We need to approve only strong proposals for new charter schools, replicate those existing charter schools that are doing well, and have the integrity to close the hundreds of charter schools in this country that are failing our children.”

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is committed to advancing excellence and accountability in the charter school sector and to increasing the number of high-quality charter schools across the nation. To accomplish this mission, NACSA works to improve the policies and practices of authorizers—the organizations designated to approve, monitor, renew, and, if necessary, close charter schools. NACSA provides training, consulting, and policy guidance to authorizers. It also advocates for laws and policies that raise the bar for excellence among authorizers and the schools they charter. In late 2012, NACSA launched its One Million Lives campaign to give one million more children the opportunity to attend a great school. Visit www.qualitycharters.org.